>I wonder about this "banned" business, though.  It makes no sense to me that
<the ECAC would keep a ref around, no matter how respected he is (and believe
>it or not, Belanger *is* a respected ref in some circles), if they have to
>put restrictions on the arenas he can work in.
 
That's true. I mean, we're already up to 3 schools where it appears that
Belanger has been banned. Clarkson, Cornell and Brown. There may be others.
That certainly limits the scope of the games he could work.
 
>And conversely, it doesn't
>make sense for the ECAC to essentially play favorites by keeping a ref away
>from a team's home arena if that team has had "problems" with him.
 
I'm not so sure I agree with that. My dad is in charge of assigning
umpires for local high school baseball games. The coaches have the right
to request that a certain umpire not work their games; conversely, the
umps can ask not work a certain school's game. My dad tries to honor
these requests if at all possible. One of the most important things in
officiating is lack of partiality. Perhaps even more important than that
is the APPEARANCE of partiality.
 
On the other hand, if so many schools seem to hate Pierre, then maybe
he's been an all-around jerk to everybody. Maybe it's a wash in the end.
 
[Bill's least favorite ECAC refs]
>     Peter Dawes
>     Either of the Murphys
>     Alex Dell
>     John Gallagher (an amazing decline -- he was one of the better refs in
>          the ECAC as recently as two years ago)
 
I definitely agree with the choice of the Murphys although I didn't see
enough of Dawes or Dell to form an opinion. Frankly, I think Gallagher
is still one of the better refs in the ECAC. Just my opinion, though.
I don't think Harry Ammian is particularly good, though. He's one of the
best linesmen in the AHL... a position he might better ought to stick to.
 
________________________________________________________________________________
| Bri Farenell                             |  ADIRONDACK RED WINGS             |
| [log in to unmask]         |  1993-94 AHL Northern Div. Champs |
| Glens Falls HS '91    Clarkson Univ. '95 |  The Drive for 5 (Calder Cups)    |
| AHL and NCAA contact for rec.sport.hockey|  '81  '86  '89  '92  '94?         |
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